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“No, you wil not. You aren’t trained for fighting. You have your strengths, but babe, I can’t watch out for you and do what I need to do. You stay home with Iris and Shamas. Vanzir, it’s us again. I want to get down there before any other haunts take up residence.”
We headed for my Jag. I wasn’t tired in the least, and Vanzir looked down, but not out. I promised Iris we’d cal her in an hour. Nerissa pouted her way back to bed, but I reluctantly slipped out the door.
“She makes it hard for you,” Vanzir said, smiling a little. “You two obviously have it going on. I’m glad you’re paying attention and not taking her for granted. It’s easy for vamps and demons to forget the niceties.”
I thought of Roman. “Not al vampires are like that. At least, not al forget to be generous, even if their emotions are in check.”
“Yeah, wel , for a living/undead relationship, you two do pretty good.” He slid into the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt.
As we veered off, back to the Greenbelt Park District, I thought over the equipment I’d brought.
Sometimes I wished I had an arsenal like Roz, but I’d never managed to pul one together.
However, in the backseat, I had a bag with several wooden stakes—just in case we met our serial kil er—a couple of knives, a pair of handcuffs, and a few other accoutrements.
Vanzir glanced over at me as we sped through the silent streets. “You blame yourself for Morio, don’t you?”
I stared at the road, hands on the wheel, not answering for a moment. Of course I did, but I wasn’t going to tel him. Instead, I just said, “What happened with Camil e?”
It was his turn to press his lips together. Final y, he said, “Touché. Unless you’re ordering me to answer, I’d rather she tel you.”
I wanted to confront him, to order him to tel , but Camil e’s privacy was tenuous at best, with three husbands, and I dreaded taking away what she had left. I frowned. “Whatever it is, wil it interfere with our quest?”
He shrugged. “It’s up to her, and I’l abide by whatever decision she makes. Look, isn’t that the turn up there?”
I nodded, silently swinging the car to the left, where I neatly slid into a parking space right near the manhole. Again, the city streets were empty—a few people going to bakery jobs or early-morning diners, but here—in Greenbelt Hel —it might as wel stil be the dead of night.
We hopped out of the car and headed over to the tunnels. Vanzir stopped to shake his head.
“Fuck, woman, what the hel kind of creepshow did you bring here? I can feel her residue. This scares the shit out of me.” He shivered and looked around. “She’s gone, right?”
“Yeah, she went back to whatever rock she lives under.” I tossed the manhole cover aside. “I’m headed down, punk boy. Fol ow if you dare.” And with that, I leaped over the side and floated down to the tunnels below. Vanzir fol owed, shimmying down the ladder at record speed.
The tunnel felt different as I looked around. It wasn’t any brighter, but as I flashed my light around, I realized that the energy had lightened considerably. Thanks to Ivana. Regardless of what the others said, I decided I’d done the right thing. We started through, fol owing our initial direction, but this time nothing jumped out of the woodwork to attack us. Oh, there were a few viro-mortis slimes on the wal s, and I saw rats here or there, but the air felt clear and I glanced over at Vanzir.
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s nothing of what we were fighting left down here.
Whatever else the Maiden of Karask might be, she’s thorough.”
When we came to the side passage, I slid through, Vanzir fol owing. Once in the chamber where we’d fought the shadow men, I glanced at the entrances leading out of the room. Which to pick first?
Vanzir caught my arm. “Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe we should just explore farther up the main tunnel? This seems off the beaten path for your vampire.”
“Yes, I’m sure. Now come on.” I chose one at random. We stil had a serial kil er on the loose, and I didn’t want to take a chance on getting caught by the creep.
The passage continued for about ten feet before it began to descend, and within moments it had turned into a staircase leading down. I paused, wondering if I should cal Iris now. But we’d barely been here twenty minutes, and to cal her, I’d have to return to the surface. There was no reception here. I opted to wait.
We approached another opening, through which the stairwel plunged. Vanzir stopped behind me. “Menol y, I don’t think this is a good idea. Let’s go back—please?”
“What the fuck is your problem?” I stepped through the opening and gasped as the wal s fel away.
I gaped at the panorama unfolding before us. A huge system of stairwel s covered the gaping chasm below, leading from one lower tunnel to another to another. A neighborhood, entirely belowground. We were no longer in Underground Seattle, but we were truly under Seattle. No humans had built this system, unless they were humans no longer mortal.
How far down the cavern went, I do not know. There was no end in sight. I could barely make out figures scurrying along the stairwel s. Not many—not like the aboveground sidewalks during daylight hours, but enough to show that the stairwel s were wel used and active.
I paused, staring at the expanse below me. “What the fuck do you think it is?” I whispered. “The vampire serial kil er, he couldn’t possibly be responsible for this.”
“No.” Vanzir drew close behind me, and he placed one steady hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go back.”
